agabr123

blanched veggies are exactly what you think they are, you blanch them (cucumber, lettuce, squash, etc) and get some sort of weight/clip so they sink to the bottom of the tank

Amanda

They're veggies that are cooked in water, that way they sink.
My pleco love zucchini.

pestonoodle

And it's healthy for them?

agabr123

yep

pestonoodle

So let me make sure I have this right I have pebbles similar (different color) to this:

http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/produ...-4590067dt.jpg

a Clown pleco will do fine with that?

Amanda

Plecos aren't picky about substrate. They'll most likely be hanging off the side, or off a decoration most of the time anyway.

Dozey

Not quite... but very close.

Blanching vegetable consists of plunging the into boiling water briefly, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process. This softens vegetable but leaves them firm and not mushy.

I feed my clown pleco cucumbers and zucchini.

agabr123

not sure about the pebbles in terms of compatibility with the fish, but i used to have that kind and it was an absolute mess. and time the gravel moved at all, they would rub against each other and cloud up the tank. i only use sand and one kind of gravel now, and the gravel ONLY for my 2.5 gallon tanks as it can get very expensive, but it's the only kind i will use now after dealing with horribly messy gravel for a while. if you ever get more tanks (or decide you want to switch), i definitely recommend either sand or this type of gravel...

http://www.strictlypetsupplies.com/_...o-Gravel-Black

Amanda

Colored gravel can clous up your tank when you're doing water changes & such. And your filter media will be the same color as the dye. But other than that, it serves its purpose.

agabr123

even when i used non-colored grave it still clouded my tank, but that could just be the particular kind that i had. either way, i wont be going back to that anytime soon!

Amanda

It's usually okay if you rinse it REALLY well before it goes in your tank.

pestonoodle

Mine is non colored and I rinsed the pebbles before putting them in the tank to reduce the amount of dust they released.

Amanda

Yep, that's what you're supposed to do.
That way there isn't dust to cloud up the water.

agabr123

yeah, i spent more time rinsing gravel than anything else with my tanks! it was terrible...

Amanda

Haha.
Me too.
I have BLUE gravel in my betta tank....AWFUL.

agabr123

i just bought enough sand that i'm converting my betta's tank ASAP, blue and green gravel mixed...such a headache.

i had the tank empty for a while for moving purposes, but some of the gravel was still in there and you would not BELIEVE the mess it made!

Amanda

Sand is not recommended for bettas. They sometimes eat it thinking that it's food.

agabr123

hmm, well i suppose then it'll be more expensive gravel. the kind i have is wonderful, i rinse it twice (for my own comfort) but it runs clear with the first rinse!